When some workers at the Swift meatpacking plant were arrested, immigration activists were there to watch. Alondra Espejel with the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network wrote this account for NAM.

WORTHINGTON, MINNESOTA—5:00 pm, Tuesday December 12, 2006. Today, Swift company workers in Worthington, Minnesota were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in a controversial immigration raid targeting the company’s workers. People communicating with the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network reported that Swift facilities were surrounded by ICE vehicles and estimated there were 280 agents present. Ten buses, which are thought to be able to transport anywhere between 400-500 people, are reported to be at the Swift building waiting to take workers. “Children are crying, families are crying, there are no words for me to describe how this event is tearing our community apart,” said Mike Potter, President of UFCW Local 1161 in Worthington, as he observed the bitter happenings at the Swift meatpacking plant.

Local Spanish radio host, Antonio Medina, describes the immigration raid as aggressive and ugly. “I went to the plant to see what was happening, but because I’m Latino they immediately asked me for my papers,” said Medina, “I felt like I was being treated like a criminal, I don’t work at Swift but I was asked for my immigration status nonetheless.” Medina, who usually broadcasts his Spanish radio show called Al Ritmo de Mi Tierra on Sunday and Monday nights, is allowed by the station manager to host a special program tonight at 7:00 pm to help the Worthington community access updated information on the day’s events. The information includes an ICE hotline number, 1-866-341-3858, where family members of those who were apprehended can call to find out more about the status of their loved ones. Additionally, the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network has set up a toll free number, 1-877-265-8817, so that Spanish speakers can call to report their cases and get guidance on the how to find the proper help.

“Immigration raids cause more problems than they solve, the raids do not address the root causes of immigration and this is why we call for a moratorium on all deportations and raids,” said Mariano Espinoza, Executive Director of the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network. According to Espinoza, new Minnesotans in Worthington contribute immensely to the local economy, they pay taxes, they have helped add more money to the social security system which has now been dubbed the “social security super fund,” they have helped rebuild the agricultural industry and have infused life into rural Minnesota cities that, had it not been for immigrant families, would have become ghost towns. “There are children who have now been left without parents,” said Pastor Andrade, a local community priest who is working with the new Minnesotans in Worthington to help heal the wounds that have been created by the immigration raids. “The community has been left in complete chaos,” added the Pastor, “we have no way of telling what will happen to these children nor when they will get to see their parents again, this will be a very painful Christmas for Worthington.”

12 midnight, Wed December 13, 2006
For over four hours, callers connected and exchanged information with Antonio Medina on his Al Ritmo de Mi Tierra special show about finding ways to get a hold of lawyers, loved ones and consulate offices representing Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. Comments about children not wanting to go to school the next day were made by callers who wanted to report what the little kids in the community were feeling after experiencing such harsh and inhumane ICE tactics. People who were affected by the issue, facing the harsh reality of being at home alone without their siblings, mothers and neighbors, called our offices up until midnight still waiting to hear where ICE had decided to detain their loved ones. The search for our community members in the immigration detention labyrinth continues as the state of Minnesota braces for a cold, cold Christmas, compliments of ICE.